Analysis: How Ireland changed their defensive system to shut down the All Blacks
Much was made of Ireland’s rush defence, or umbrella ‘outside-in’ tactics to close off the All Blacks attack in the post-match hysteria of the win.
Interestingly, this type of defence is not how Ireland usually defends and not how they played during this year’s Six Nations. There were distinct changes made to dial up pressure on the All Blacks, which is fascinating that they changed the scheme for their biggest test of the year.
Ireland does usually bring line speed but typically play up-and-out defence. In some cases, they will automatically default to a slide defence to account for a numbers disadvantage.
They will generally eat up the space by bursting forward off the line but then slow and hold off, jockey outward and push play to the edge, staying alive as long as possible as a line and allowing the opposition to reveal their hand.
In phases where the opposition has succeeded in creating an overlap, Ireland are willing to concede ground downfield using a jockey/slide system in order to keep guys on their feet and buy time to restabilise the line.
Against Scotland earlier this year, look at how they ‘manage’ the threat of Stuart Hogg off set-piece by playing passive slide defence almost from the start and then re-set to dominate the gain line.
From the lineout, Scotland play wide by using Peter Horne (12) out the back behind a Huw Jones decoy line and succeed in building a three-on-two on the edge, but Garry Ringrose (13) and Keith Earls (14) have already diagnosed the play and are fully aware of this.
They begin to backpedal and bail, happy to give away metres downfield as long as the ball keeps moving wider.
Horne (12) releases the pass without committing any defenders, allowing Ringrose to slide, slimming the assignment down to a two-on-two.
Stuart Hogg carries down the left-hand side for a nice gain but is tackled by the backtracking Ringrose, creating a ruck on the far left-hand side.
Scotland achieve a 20-metre gain on first phase but Ireland’s defensive line is pretty well set for the next phase. Everyone is set ready to now win back the yards from a far more manageable situation.
Ireland’s forwards chew up the space by pressing off the line on the second phase and Scotland achieve a 5-metre loss.
The third phase is the same and Scotland’s runner drops the ball in the face of pressure, conceding a turnover back near the 40-metre line.
With Scotland employing a width game frequently on the first phase, Ireland conceded ground deliberately with a jockey/slide system but never broke, putting Hogg and co. in a shrinking box and choking them out of room to the sideline.
Against the All Blacks on first phase, they played it completely differently. Every scrum play was high-risk rush defence, jamming outside-in to collapse in on the All Blacks midfield.
The statistics will show that a high percentage of the All Blacks scrum plays are part of their ‘javelin attack’ – short-pass midfield crash plays. Ireland seemingly gambled on this information and took the risk to clot the midfield channel.
The ‘outside-in’ rush defence in this situation leaves the fullback completely open but pressures every option inside him.
If the flyhalf is making the pass, a difficult double cutout or kick-pass is required to hit the open fullback. Every other pass is a hospital ball ‘in waiting’ if the outside backs can bring the heat.
Ireland’s centre Garry Ringrose (13) and Keith Earls (14) were phenomenal in pulling this tactic off. It’s highly disruptive in theory but actually executing it and containing the opposition is extremely difficult.
You are effectively leaving the outside channel exposed so you can’t afford to miss your assignment or have the ball get past the centre. However, if you succeed you put the opposition on the back foot with gain line losses.
Earls succeeds in swallowing up Goodhue, but you can see Barrett is left wide open steaming past on the outside.
Ireland did this on every set-piece play, in direct contrast to how they played first phase against Scotland, Wales, and England during the Six Nations.
All of the All Blacks openside scrum plays were to the left, but they were all throttled inside leaving strike weapon Rieko Ioane with zero touches from scrums.
Instead of trying to ‘manage’ the All Blacks’ outside threats with a passive up-and-out line like they do with their Six Nations opponents, Ireland went all-in on preventing the ball getting there in the first place.
It was prevalent during phase play that this was also a directive.
If we re-visit the Six Nations we can see Ireland’s normal defensive system in place when faced with an overlap.
After six phases Scotland have created a numbers advantage on Ireland’s left edge towards Stockdale’s wing.
Again Horne finds himself with a three-on-two. Conor Murray (9) and Jacob Stockdale (11) push up initially but then play jockey coverage, with hips turned out, backpedalling to buy time and push play to the edge.
For the second time, Horne throws a pass without committing anyone, allowing Ireland’s fractured line to recover and shut play down on the outside.
The pass is wayward anyway and the opportunity is lost. Five minutes later, Horne attempts to throw a long pass without committing anyone for the third time, Stockdale jumps the passing lane and takes an intercept 50-metres the other way.
Against the All Blacks, on a high percentage of plays, Ireland showed a desire to keep the ball inside by continually jamming in.
To maintain this pressure for the full eighty minutes without any lapses in execution was a masterful display of high-pressure defence.
Integral to pulling off this tactic was Ireland’s centre Garry Ringrose, who might be the best defender in the game at 13.
His tackle success rate has been elite in 2018 and he showed he is able to execute on different game plans devised by Andy Farrell, playing aggressive or passive as required.
Against the All Blacks, he made 14 tackles and missed one for a 93% completion rate whilst playing high-risk rush defence. To bring that much pressure and execute consistently during any game, let alone against the world’s best, is a testament to his fitness level, determination, and defensive ability.
The back three of Earls, Stockdale, and Kearney also have a huge role to play in Ireland’s defence, each bringing unique talents to the table. Earls is a kick-bait king, Stockdale is a ball-hawk and Kearney covers a huge backfield with anticipatory vision.
Ireland runs a back-three pendulum, but the only constant in the backfield is Kearney.
They trust the wingers to know when to drop into kick coverage, and the supporting cast of Earls and Stockdale aid Kearney well in covering the backfield. In this game, the wingers were tasked with ‘barracading’ the edge more than they usually do, and Earls, in particular, was excellent in assisting Ringrose.
The scariest part of all of this shows that Ireland is thinking two moves ahead of their opponent, looking to stack the odds and adapt their style to whatever they think will work best, and they have the coaches who generally get those decisions right, and the players who can execute it.
Rugby World Cup city guide – Oita:
Comments on RugbyPass
If rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
23 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
23 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to comments